Sunday, July 22, 2018

How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids: The Ultimate Guide for Selling Your Stories to Parenting Magazines will change your writing life! The 7th edition of this invaluable resource that has already helped so many writers get published includes information on how to get started selling your original and reprint articles and essays. It goes on to cover everything related to writing for this market, including keeping good records, setting up a freelance writer website, invoicing, and so much more. Then comes the best part: the 384 paying markets. Writing success is waiting for you! Check out more about the book, including reviews, here.

Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my thick 441-page print book of tips, tricks, and insider information, as well as 384 paying parenting and family markets! You can order"How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids" on Amazon here.

GET THE KINDLE VERSION FREE WHEN YOU BUY THE PAPERBACK (MATCHBOOK)

FULLY UPDATED with recipe descriptions/stories and meal planning advice in general plus more desserts and a new tater tot recipe!

What could be better than 35 tater tot casserole recipes all in one place? In addition to the naughty versions like Bacon Ranch, Fully Loaded, Buffalo Bleu Cheese, Chicken Alfredo and all sorts of other happy deliciousness, this amazing cookbook also contains dairy-free, skinny, gluten-free and vegetarian options for those times you want to (or have to!) eat in a more healthy manner!

And of course you have to top off a tater tot casserole meal with one of the 13 bonus easy dessert recipes, including Chocolate Suicide, Tutu's Chocolate Stars, Mock Apple Pie and Heavenly Sinful Bars. Your family will love you for this!

These recipes will have your family asking for seconds!

P.S. Make it for dinner, then heat it up in a pan with scrambled eggs in the morning for leftover delight!

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Once you’ve been writing for a while, you’re going to
get a nice body of work to resell. You’re going to want to send out that body
of work to editors from time to time, and you also want to keep this list for
any new publications you find who might want to see your work.

Head
here for an abbreviated example of what I normally send to publications on a
regular basis, sometimes monthly and sometimes more like quarterly. This is discussed in more detail in my book, including when to send it, how often, what to charge, etc.

Kerrie McLoughlin Reprint List

Updated July 17, 2018

mommykerrie@yahoo.com

Below please find my full reprint list, including word
count and synopsis of each article. All pieces are available as web-only
articles at your normal rate plus 10%. Please contact me if you would be
interested in reviewing one of these articles for possible purchase so you
don’t overlap coverage in your area without realizing it. If you love it, I can
send out an invoice!

I appreciate working with regional parenting magazines
and always love to share articles from various publications on social media. I
would love to work with you, and thank you for taking the time to consider my
work!

New pieces since my last reprint
list update:

·14 Grandparent Traditions
(902 words) — Grandparents, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how important you
are to your grandchild(ren). You are so much more than an occasional
babysitter. You teach without it even seeming like you are, and your wisdom is
soaked up better than any lecture from a parent. You may not realize just how
profoundly you affect your grandchildren. To keep your connection with them
alive, read on for 14 traditions you can start with your grandchildren. Most of
them are pretty adaptable so you can continue them as your grandchildren grow.

·10 Fall Traditions (661
words) — Ah, fall! Hopefully it means a break from oppressive summer heat, and
it definitely means fun time are ahead. Fall might find us grabbing my mom and
heading to a local pumpkin patch. Another weekend we might be sampling
banana-flavored milk at our nearby dairy farm. Below are 10 ideas for fall
traditions to start with your own family. Pick and choose a few each year — or
try to sneak them all in every year!

By category/month:

Homeschooling

Homeschooling 101 (812- and 1,180-word versions) — Synopsis.

11 Terrific Benefits of Homeschooling (779 words) — Synopsis.

Evergreen

8 Ways to Combat Distracted Driving (731 words) — Synopsis.

10 Slumber Party Dos and Don’ts (542 words) — Synopsis.

October

·10 Fun Halloween
Traditions (625 words) – Here you would write a little bit about the article,
give a couple of the traditions.

·10 Traditions to FALL For
(661 words) – Here you would write a little bit about the article, give a
couple of the traditions.

December

·8 Holiday Traditions for
Everyone (802 words) — Here you would write a little bit about the article,
give a couple of the traditions.

·10 Special Christmas
Traditions (629 words) — Here you would write a little bit about the article,
give a couple of the traditions.

Please consider signing up for an email subscription to this site and get two amazing freebies: 10 Parenting Markets That Pay $100+ and 10 Markets That Pay Writers to Write About Writing! Please also consider joining my Facebook group called Parenting Magazine Writers ... it's FREE and full of tips and tricks and markets and like-minded writer friends!Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my thick 441-page print book of tips, tricks, and insider information, as well as 384 paying parenting and family markets! You can order"How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids" on Amazon here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

I stumbled across Issuu.com when I was hunting down my name and wanted to share it with you. It's a publishing service like BlueToad, only you can put in your name (best to put it in quotes), and magazine covers will come up that most likely contain an article of yours because you may have simultaneously submitted a regional parenting magazine. You can then click on the cover and see your piece! Using Issuu.com I was able to find a piece of mine that was published in 2010 that I wasn't aware was going to be used at that time. I usually find at least one piece per month that was used without my permission.

So you'd put your name in the search bar like this: "Kerrie McLoughlin"

If
I find what I call “borrowed work,” I pop off an email to let them know I found
it and I include my invoice, usually for $35-$40, because I think that’s a
pretty fair rate currently. Of course I do check my book 1st (7th edition coming soon) because I don’t
want to send a $35 invoice if there a publication that pays $50 for reprints! I
make sure to thank them for using my work and ask them to please next time ask
me first just in case there are competitors in the area who might have also
snapped at the same piece only they were considerate enough to let me know
first.

Happy searching!

Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my thick 441-page print book of tips, tricks, and insider information, as well as 384 paying parenting and family markets! You can order"How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids" on Amazon here.

Sign up for an email subscription to The Published Parent and get two amazing freebies: 10 Parenting Markets That Pay $100+ and 10 Markets That Pay Writers to Write About Writing! And join my Facebook group called Parenting Magazine Writers ... it's FREE and full of tips and tricks and markets and like-minded writer friends!

Monday, July 16, 2018

Sometimes I think it would be cool to be able to pop a software program into my brain and automatically and immediately know how to cook, clean, care for kids, teach them, guide them, help them, as well as be able to calculate the exact time it will take to get this kid to soccer without being late to getting that kid to dance. Okay, so we don't all know how to do the same things. It's alright, because that's what other parents are for and that's what these parenting magazines and blogs are for: your valuable advice!Some days ideas flow out of you like money flows out of my household bank account and food is sucked out of my refrigerator. Other days you might stare at a blank page, trying to figure out something that you can write about that might be remotely interesting to editors and magazine readers.
Half the battle of seeing an article in print is coming up with an idea editors want to publish. Set aside some time to brainstorm article and essay ideas using the list below. Then choose your best ideas and work the 12-step process for getting published!

Keep files of ideas: I have a physical file of scraps of paper, things printed out from online, even the cliche napkin with scrawled ideas. If my idea well ever dries up, I can always hit that file. I also have a folder on my computer called ARTICLE IDEAS and it's full of half-started and barely started articles.

Rework something you have now that you've abandoned. Somethingyoualreadywrotethatneedsanewlife.IoftendothiswithpiecesIwrote10 years ago that aredated. Somethingyouhavenowthatyou'veabandoned.Maybeinspirationwillstrikethistime.

Write the birth stories of your kids for some inspiration. Iknowitsoundsalittleweird,butyoumightcomeupwithanarticleidea,aswellas haveacoolkeepsakeforyourchild.Iwrotemyyoungestson'sbirthstoryandoutofitcame twoarticles:NICUparentsandaftertheNICU.

Come up with some inspirational stories.

Solve a problem you have now or have had in the past. Somethingyoupersonallystrugglewithbutdon'tthinkisahugedealmightbeaVERY
bigdealtoothermomsandmaybeyoucanpopoffanarticlefullofwaystohelpwiththe problem.Afewofmyownpersonalarticleexamplesincludepiecesonhavingahusbandwho travelsforwork,howtobouncebackafterhavingababy(notjustphysically,butinseveral
otherways),andwhattodowithyourselfonceyoubecomeastay-at-homemomorduringyour maternityleave. Haveyouhadaproblem,posteditonFacebook,thenreceivedsomanygreatrepliesyou couldhavewrittenahelpfularticleusingthequotesandadvice?Writethatarticle!Ifyouhavea problem,manyothersprobablyalsodo,andeditorswillwanttopublishyourpiece!Something
past orpresent.

Write about something you know how to do. Oh, the things parents know how to do that they
don't even think are a big deal.

Write the opposite of your experience with a subject.

Report on a negative or positive trend.

Read editorial calendars.

Read writer's guidelines.

Read magazines you want to write for. Now this is easier than ever with so many magazines available online. SomanyarefreeonlineusingplatformslikeIssuu.com,BlueToad,andmore.Goneare
thedaysofsendingoffforapapercopy.Theworldisinyourcomputer(orphone!).Notall RPMsarecreatedequal.Whilesomemayseemalmostidenticalfromcoasttocoast,you'llfind somearemoreliberal,somemoreconservative,morecrunchy,moreemphasisonhumor,etc.

Please consider signing up for an email subscription to this site and get two amazing freebies: 10 Parenting Markets That Pay $100+ and 10 Markets That Pay Writers to Write About Writing! Please also consider joining my Facebook group called Parenting Magazine Writers ... it's FREE and full of tips and tricks and markets and like-minded writer friends!Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my thick 441-page print book of tips, tricks, and insider information, as well as 384 paying parenting and family markets! You can order"How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids" on Amazon here.

In an ideal writing world, you would have time to read back copies of every parenting magazine in existence to get a feel for what kinds of articles they publish. But with so many demands on our time, that's just not possible. So if there are no writer's guidelines available for a regional parenting magazine, follow the rules below:

Submit
a "cover
letter" in your email.
Unfortunately, you will also have to add somethingtoitlike"Pleaseletmeknowifyouplantousemyarticle,asIwanttomake suretwomagazinesinthesameregiondon'tuseitatthesametime.Also,Ineedtosend
youaninvoicebecausemyworkisnotfree"It'ssad,butsomemagazineswilluseyour
workwithouttellingyouandwithoutpayingyouandyouneedtopointbacktoyour originalemail.

Check out this post on my 12-step process for getting published!Please consider signing up for an email subscription to this site and get two amazing freebies: 10 Parenting Markets That Pay $100+ and 10 Markets That Pay Writers to Write About Writing! Please also consider joining my Facebook group called Parenting Magazine Writers ... it's FREE and full of tips and tricks and markets and like-minded writer friends!Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my thick 441-page print book of tips, tricks, and insider information, as well as 384 paying parenting and family markets! You can order"How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids" on Amazon here.